A Different Way
by AimeeCollins
Summary: It was all part of a plan that would work itself out. But in the end, she would have Stefan Salvatore, she was sure of it. What she didn't know yet was, that everything would turn out way different than she thought… Series/book. Arrogant!Elena, Delena.
1. Prologue

Hello everyone. After reading _The vampire diaries_ again, for the hundredth time or so, I found out that I found the arrogant, self-confident and popular Elena intriguing and refreshing, as opposed to the usual outsider with little friends, who doesn't want to be popular. I compared Elena from the books with the Elena in the series. I did miss some things in the books, like Jeremy, aunt Jenna and such. And in my opinion, if Elena would've met Damon before Stefan, she would've chosen for Damon and his offer of Power. Everyone's living in Mystic Falls, and anything different than in the books/series will be explained in the story. I'm sure that this has been done before, but I still hope that people will enjoy reading this. :)

**A DIFFERENT WAY - PROLOGUE**

Elena walked over the path toward the Salvatore Boarding House. She could see that the door was opened widely. For a second, she hesitated. Did she really want to do this? Most people would consider her crazy, or a stalker. She _felt_ like a stalker. Elena sighed and continued her way toward the door. By now, she was sneaking, keeping her pace light, barely allowing her shoes to touch the ground. Still, the noise they made seemed deafening, and every time her shoes connected with the ground, Elena cringed.

When she reached the door, she should've felt relieved. But her heart kept on pounding in her chest like it wanted to burst out. 'Stefan?' she asked, feeling slightly ashamed that she'd gone to lengths like this. When Stefan still hadn't reacted to her actions in any way, she'd decided to go to his house. Finding out about his address hadn't been a hard thing to do, thanks to the school servants.

'Stefan?' she asked again, louder now. She looked over her shoulder to see if he was outside, but the front porch remained empty. A scream was torn from her chest when she turned around and bumped into someone. All she could see was a black shirt, and when her cheek unintentionally rubbed against it, it felt soft. The stranger, who certainly wasn't Stefan, pushed her backward until she was an arm's length away, but still held his tight grip on her upper arms.

Elena stared at the stranger, his ruffled raven black hair, his intense blue eyes, his pale skin, and knew that she was in trouble. No, not just trouble. She was in _danger_. All her senses were telling her to _run_, to run as fast as she could and never return to this place, this man. But she remained frozen when he smiled at her, a smile that didn't reach his eyes. 'You must be Elena. I'm Damon. Damon _Salvatore_.'


	2. Chapter 1

__**A DIFFERENT WAY - CHAPTER ONE  
**

_Dear diary,_

_Today will be different. I will no longer be Elena Gilbert, the girl that has lost her parents. I will be Elena Gilbert, queen of Robert E. High, in Mystic Falls. With golden hair and creamy white skin, and a taste for fashion, a lot of followers and servants, you know, those wannabe's that want to belong to our group. A new year will begin, and I will graduate like everyone else. When everyone asks me how I'm doing, I'll say "I'm fine, how are you?" and I will not leave any space for talks about my parents and feelings. _

_When I first came to live with aunt Jenna, she asked me if I wanted to see a psychologist, or join any grieving-help-groups. Elena Gilbert, talking to a psychologist? No way in hell that that will ever happen. I'm a perfectly normal girl, who may have lost her parents in a terrible car-accident, but normal girls don't need psychologists or help groups. They just live their lives, go out, go on dates, and graduate with average grades. _

_Still, I can't shake off the feeling that something is going to happen. To all of us. But perhaps that are just the nerves, with the new school year and all. _

With a smile of satisfaction on her face, Elena added the last period to her sentence and closed the blue velvet book. She stretched in her silken red kimono and admired the creamy white skin of her long, hairless legs. When her finger traced one of her legs, it met a smooth, soft surface and she was pleased with her work from the day before.

Yesterday she'd gone through the painful process of waxing her legs, armpits and other places that had been in desperate need of waxing. In honour of her Sunday tradition once a month, she'd gone to a hairdresser, and had her hair done in layers. The sun in France had caused her hair to lighten with two tints, so it was more blonde than ever before.

She realized that, even though she'd attempted to write it off, the feeling of discomfort still lingered around her. She decided that having a quick bath, and some boiling hot coffee would comfort her. The ritual of cleaning always managed to have a calming effect on her, especially nowadays. After running into the bathroom to let the water run, she studied herself in the mirror on her dressing table.

Did she see small, blonde hairs on the bridge of her nose? Elena squinted and quickly grabbed some tweezers out of her drawer. By the time she was done, her skin was red and somewhat irritated, but the bath would fix it all. Baths always seemed to be a solution to everything for the teenage girl. She could spend hours in a deliciously hot bath tub, only to come out when the water had gone too cold.

After her bath, she had half an hour left before school would start. She stood pondering in front of her closet, trying to decide on what to wear today. The air was still pressing with warmth, so she decided to go for a short, peach pink dress topped with a purple coloured belt. She grabbed her blonde locks and put them into a high ponytail, with a peach coloured ribbon.

When she came downstairs, aunt Jenna was pouring milk into her cereal, and Jeremy was staring at nothing in particular with glazed eyes. She'd always thought that her brothers chocolate brown eyes were beautiful, even though her own eyes were beautiful as well. While Jeremy had inherited their father's eyes, Elena had inherited her mother's intense blue eyes.

They were often compared to turquoise or to the ocean when the sun was setting behind it. In elementary school, a boy that had a crush on her had written her a poem about her sparkling eyes. Despite the many grammar mistakes and crossed out words, Elena had kept the poem and cherished it in a box that held the things from her life before the car-accident.

Although she'd never returned the boys feelings, she'd felt touched by the poem, because other boys would just stare at her, or say stupid things. He'd moved away a few years later, before they would all attend middle school. Now, she was in Robert E., and currently dating the all American football player Matt Donovan. And even though she knew that Matt's sister Vicki was slowly dragging Jeremy into a drug addiction, she had never complained to him about it.

It wasn't Matt's fault, after all, that his sister was doing drugs and drinking too much alcohol. Their mother was never there to take care of them, and Elena had only met her once. Misses Donovan had taken exactly two seconds to greet Elena, before jumping into her car to visit one of her many boyfriends, or toys, as Matt used to refer to them.

Aunt Jenna resembled her mother: auburn brown hair that run down to her shoulders, and chocolate brown eyes. Jenna was a free-spirited aunt, always in for experiments and never complaining about grades or alcohol. Her clothing was the newest fashion, a purple long sleeved shirt and a skinny jeans, and Elena always enjoyed fooling around with her.

'Hey aunt Jenna. Hey Jeremy.' Elena greeted. Aunt Jenna replied with a muffled 'hi', with a mouthful of cereal, while Jeremy didn't utter as much as a greeting. Elena searched through the cabinets in search of some donuts, until she finally found an old pack that was close to its expiration date. She chewed on one while she studied Jeremy, hoping that he didn't notice her doing so.

Jeremy was in his punk/drug phase, with his black hair made into spikes with an overdose of gel, all the way to black t-shirts and army shoes. Of course, they weren't real army shoes, just the retail ones, but that didn't take away from the fact that it seriously hurt when someone stepped on your foot wearing them. Elena had experienced it first-hand, and just the memory made the pain in her toes return.

She gobbled down a latté macchiato in record time, and quickly grabbed her lilac backpack. Most girls these days carried around enormous shoulder bags or purses that seemed too small to contain anything, but Elena preferred her backpack. It had been a birthday present from her mother last year, so there was absolutely no way that she would ever stop using it.

'Jer, are you coming?' she yelled over her shoulder. She heard her brother yell back something that she couldn't make out by the door, and closed the door behind her. If he wanted to go to school, her brother would just have to walk himself. Elena climbed into the black Renault Clio, a second hand car with more than a few dents in the doors, and started it. The engine roared in an unhealthy way, but Elena just ignored it.

She was playing with her hair in the rear-view mirror, and found some spare time to quickly apply some moisturizer to her lips. In the scorching, pressing heat, lipstick just provided another way to get her lips dehydrated. She rubber her lips together and was pleased with the result, before she finally drove away.

As she'd expected, everyone was waiting for her when she arrived at the parking lot of her high school. The usual group, with Bonnie and Caroline, were waiting for her. With old friends also came new people who desperately wanted to be accepted into her group. Elena greeted her friends, as well as the newcomers, and smiled politely when everyone asked how she was doing.

'I'm fine. France was amazing, the food, the sun, the Eiffel tower.' she said, keeping her tone light and casual. Caroline studied her, and Elena had to strain herself to keep herself from looking away from those penetrating, cat-like green eyes. Like herself, Caroline was blessed with blonde locks, though she always kept on saying that she adored Elena's hair. Bonnie, on the other hand, was blessed with an olive toned skin, dark, almost black hair and a thin figure that most girls would starve themselves for.

Her friend's dark brown eyes smiled along with her lips, and Elena found herself smiling back, feeling more relaxed than she had this morning. 'Elena, your hair is lighter! It looks amazing!' Bonnie said, causing Elena and the rest of the group to laugh at her enthusiasm. Bonnie was a cheerful, bubbly girl who always said what she thought, no matter how out-going it sounded.

Caroline, on the other hand, said and did what everyone expected of her. She was _the _example of the school's it-girl, the girl that everyone envied and wanted to be like. She wore silk underwear that matched, and was always daring with extremely short mini-skirts and tops that didn't leave up much to the imagination. 'Yeah, I almost thought you dyed it.' Caroline added, giving her friend a genuine smile.

Elena nodded and took in all the compliments from her friends, occasionally returning a compliment here and there. 'Hey, my grams thought me how to read palms!' Bonnie suddenly beamed, surprising both Elena and Caroline. Caroline rolled her eyes, and Elena felt a little ashamed that she felt the urge to copy the green eyed girl. She'd never believed in paranormal, psychic tricks, so why would she begin to now?

'Oh come on, Elena, just this once?' Bonnie pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip just a few inches. Elena knew that Bonnie knew that she couldn't resist her friend's sad face, and gave in after a few seconds. 'All right, just once.' she warned on a mock threatening tone, causing everyone in the group to laugh.

Caroline, who stood behind Bonnie, muttered darkly: 'You will meet a tall, dark stranger, he'll invite you into his house and then use you as desert!' Some people in the group laughed, while others rolled their eyes. Elena felt a little bit uncomfortable with the double meaning of Caroline's words, but that feeling was quickly forgotten when she saw Bonnie's expression – or rather, _lack_ of expression.

Bonnie's face was entirely smooth and her eyes were staring off in the depths of Elena's palm. Her finger traced the line that started at her little finger and travelled all the way to her middle finger. Elena thought that it was somewhat scary, but when Bonnie talked, the muffled, far-way sounding voice mad her even more uncomfortable.

'Yes, she will meet a stranger. His hair will be dark, but his eyes won't be. And he used to be long, once, but isn't anymore…?' it sounded more like a question than a statement or even a prophecy, and some girls in the group laughed sheepishly to each other. Elena could feel the tension rise until it was almost rippling against her skin.

'He will offer you Power. A lot of Power. And you will reign as his queen…?' Bonnie asked uncertainly. The trance seemed to be broken, and the olive toned girl looked up at her friend with question marks in her eyes. 'I don't want see any more.' she said in a strange tone. Elena shrugged apologetically and gave a sheepish laugh. 'I'm already a queen, and I already have power.' she said, shrugging it all off. Or so it looked like. She felt uncomfortable about the whole palm reading thing, but she also knew that it was just a silly game to scare young kids, or to deprive weak souls of money. Then why was she feeling this way about it?

The answer seemed to arrive in the form of a black Porsche, a Turbo 991. It swiftly rode onto the parking lot, like a lazy jaguar that felt too tired to lunge at its prey. 'Oh-ooh.' Caroline muttered from behind her, when Elena abruptly whirled around to get a better look at the car. 'That's one hell of a car.' someone in the group said. 'Porsche, it's a Porsche.' Bonnie corrected, causing the attention of the group to be fixed on her momentarily.

When everyone remained silent, Bonnie shrugged. 'What? My father has a Porsche.' she protested, but nobody was listening anymore. As if they were one single girl, they were all staring at the Porsche – or rather, the person that exited it. He wasn't tall, like Bonnie had said, but his hair sure was dark. It was in the middle of the range of dark blonde to brown, and Elena found that she envied the guy for his hair.

She'd always wanted brown hair, but then again, Bonnie had expressed the desire to have blond hair once, so maybe that desire was just natural. Unfortunately, they didn't get the see the guys face. It was hidden behind an enormous pair of sunglasses, that covered most of his face. It only left a little room for his high cheekbones, and that was it. But Elena could see that his skin was a tad darker than her own, creamy white skin.

A collective sigh went through the group of girls when the mystery guy locked his car and walked toward the school building. 'Did you see that jacket? It was _definitely _an Armani!', 'He's _so_ mysterious! I swear he's mine, so stay away from him!' the girls started talking about the stranger in top speed, but Elena was the one to stay silent. Her heart was beating with a hundred miles an hour. She put her hand on her throat and tried to swallow around the lump in her throat.

Bonnie noticed her discomfort and her expression turned from excitement to concern. 'Elena, are you sure you're all right?' her friend asked on a worried tone, but Elena just nodded and swallowed again. She dug into her shoulder bag until she found the bottle of water, and after taking a few gulps, she was feeling better. 'I'm fine, really.' she told Bonnie, who didn't look convinced. 'Where's Meredith?' Elena asked on a light tone, desperately wanting to change the subject.

Caroline and Bonnie both frowned. 'Actually, we have no idea.' Caroline said slowly, as if she'd only just realized that Meredith was no-where to be seen. The girls exchanged looks that told Elena that there was more to it, but she was too glad that the subject had changed to pay more attention to it. 'I bet she'll show up at lunch. Or maybe she's just sick.' Bonnie said reassuringly, though the three girls knew that Meredith only stayed home sick when she had a very high fever.

Elena smiled at the thought of her chestnut brown haired friend. The last time she'd seen her, Meredith had grown like a tree on too much water, already towering over Elena with at least three inches. Her hair had been done into ringlets, making her look younger than she was despite her length. Elena always enjoyed the company of her friend, who was straight-to-the-point and was never afraid to give her opinion.

When the bell for the first period rang, Elena knew that she couldn't wait any longer for both Meredith and Jeremy, and accepted her defeat by walking into the school with her group of followers. Bonnie handed her her schedule, and she sighed when she saw that she would have mathematics without Bonnie or Caroline. Although she wasn't afraid or insecure around strangers, seeing some familiar faces would've have comforted her.

She did have maths with Matt, but Matt was one of the persons that she would rather not see today. While she'd been in France, she'd figured out that the affection that she felt for Matt acted more like a brother-sister affection, instead of a crush or real love. Elena was always searching for that person that could make her feel more than what she felt now, but Matt just wasn't that one person. She hadn't been able to write him a letter, and breaking up over the phone just wouldn't be right.

So she'd decided that she would break up with him in person, but when she entered her class and met his light blue eyes, she decided that she would wait for it for just a little longer. It wasn't bad to take some more time to think about it, when that time was just a day, right? Elena nodded to herself and sat down, grabbed her note block and a pencil and wrote her name into the textbook that the teacher had handed out.

The entire class seemed to look up when the stranger arrived. He walked into the classroom, his shoulders squared, his chin held high and his face hidden behind his sunglasses. Elena cocked her hand to the side and quickly pulled her ribbon out of her hair, letting it fall freely around her shoulders. Because of the sunglasses, Elena couldn't see if he was looking at her.

She was shocked when he sat down in front of her, with his back toward her, without as much as a flinch. Elena's lips departed and she had trouble swallowing. Her mind refused to register what her eyes first saw: whoever this stranger was, he could resist her charms, her looks. With that knowledge immediately came a fiery determination to _get_ this stranger. He was _hers_ and she wouldn't stop until she had him, no matter what it would cost.

A plan quickly unfolded itself in her mind, and Elena smiled and leaned back. Even when his name – Stefan Salvatore – was said by the teacher, Elena didn't show a visible reaction, unlike the other girls, who all leaned forward a little bit. It was all part of a plan that would work itself out. But in the end, she would have Stefan Salvatore, she was sure of it. What she didn't know yet was that everything would turn out way different than she thought…


End file.
